> > Stephen's last post to the forum was dated June 21, 2001. He has not posted since then.
> >
> I started to put things together...
> >
> > Stephan's first post to the forum was dated June 26, 2001.
> >
> > Stephan's first post appeared to be an attempt to resurrect the long-dead Cheeseburger Controversy. [...] The "real Stephen" attempting to cause division among the masses? Mass confusion and hysteria is often beneficial to a dictatorship.
> >
> > Stephan claims to be German. Anyone recall Stephen's previous impersonations of foreigners? "I Am Coming From Iceland" ring any bells? Another attempt to create confusion, although it only affected one newbie chatter.
> >
> > Stephan claims to be German, and yet he has already been contradicted by another German (Fuzzpilz) about a supposed German "fact" (the thing about fat fries/chips/pommes frites being called "Belgium" in Germany). Things like this make one think.
> >
> > I'm not making any accusations here. I'll let you judge the facts and draw your own conclusions.
> >
> > Gri"fun conspiracy theory"shny
>
> Heh, I thought the same thing when I saw Stephan's posts start to appear. The master's capricious ways are wont to make life difficult for us middle-managers in charge of his lackeys, toadies, and lickspittles, but we wouldn't want our Supreme Dictator-for-Life any other way.
>
> Iss "hopes a wrong guess won't result in the untimely curtailment of this particular middle-manager's career" achar

Ah, yes. I too noted the commentary in Stephan Wilms' "No, I am not gonna mutilate my first name" in his fourth post or so. I presume that this was a friendly little poke at the expense of our beloved *cough* Stephen Keller. Possibly a curious thing for a presumed newbie to say, n'est-ce pas? As well, there are other indications of StephAn's curiously non-teutonic parlance. Perhaps he gleaned conceptualization from an earlier poster, Die Doppelgängerdämmerung ("Double Doom"?).

Or perhaps he's simply picked up lotsa American-type humour by osmosis... through virtue of having a good number of American friends.

As long as we're engaging in the Good Clean Fun of A Conspiracy Theory™ (haven't had one of Those for a while), I hope Stephan does not mind a more detailed analysis of his Rinkpresence, which follows herein. I offer the following items as simple food for thought; and if my presumption should cause offense, I pray there's always the "Forum History Deletion Key" as controlled by the Iron Fist of Sam. :-)

Our new Rinkfriend Stephan Wilms, if he is indeed posting from somewhere near Wiesbaden (close to Frankfurt) in Germany, happens to be in a location much closer to the Belgian border than, say, if he were posting from München. That part of his story pans out as true. Maybe people do indeed call them "Belgian Fries" in that part of Deutschland, because I'm sure the Belgians would insist on it. (The claim as to who first invented "pommes frites" is hotly debated between the French and the Belgians). So, there's at least one point in Stephan's favour that he is who he says he is.

On the other hand, Stephan's service provider appears to be a PSInet connection, registered in Vermont, and routed through Toronto, Canada. Though at first glance this looks suspicious, PSInet claims to have 800 international points-of-presence across the globe. I imagine, then, that it is indeed possible that Stephan is dialling up PSInet from Europe.

Bottom line: Stephan Wilm's cover story ostensibly holds up to scrutiny, more or less. However his mode of address and several other aspects scream "Stephen Keller," or -- at the very least -- that he's very well versed in American custom as it relates to RinkWorks. You be the judge. :-)

I know I've been wrong before as to other poster's identities. At first, from Zarniwoop's first post, I thought Zarniwoop was Sentry; but subsequent posts rapidly convinced me otherwise. There is a fairly quick way for Herr Wilms to convince *ME* that he's Deutsch through-and-through, which if he emails me I will be happy to explain. Of course, it's not because I hate and despise you, Stephan, that I am "foisting" this additional duress upon you. You have, of course, no obligation to listen to any debate over your identity. I merely suggest what I have suggested because I am now dying with curiosity. So in that respect at least, you have succeeded in capturing our interest.

Wolf "Sort of like SPY vs. SPY, yes?" spirit